[duncan h]

Guy phones up for a price. End terrace type. Told him £9
Talks to wife. He then says "is that frames doors etc" YES
Wife then pipes up "can we have a trial" WTF
I said yes but it will be classed as a 1 off clean and be double" WHAT" "DOUBLE"
Well think about it.
Don't bother. At least they didn't do the usual clean once and then don't pay after that

[kempy]

Is this in Wakefield area ?

A trial , like you said means a one off perhaps

[Stoots]

Thas no chance of double round here
I dont even bother i just take first cleans on the chin. win some lose some

[Smudger]

Thas no chance of double round here

 

If you say so...

[SeanK]

Thas no chance of double round here

 

If you say so...

Its the same in my area, too many shiners and customers who wont jump through hoops for the sake of getting one
not that it matters for the sake of a small few that will take you for a ride.
To be honest the majority of my customers have more than paid me back for the first clean with recommendations.

[nathankaye]

Theres always plenty of window cleaners around. Been in game long enough to see  plenty of cowboys as well come and go.
Im in a comfy position where iv five rounds, all full and 4wkly. Im always happy to take on new work if its worth my while and yes, first cleans are always double and people either pay or dont. Esp when u kno its a one of clean, you did right.
Tho its harder for ones to have that attitude if they dont have the work.

[duncan h]

She was shocked that a 1 off clean costs more than having it done monthly. WHY?
Because is a regular income thick cow

[M & C Window Cleaning]

Where I am I've found that when a new customer knows their windows are really bad, they often expect to pay more for a first clean, even double.
I try to be reasonable though. If the windows are pretty good already then I start them at the regular price.

[dave f]

I think charging double for first sets you of on the wrong foot in most cases  . I would feel embarrassed asking for double

[steven ainger]

Personally, I don't have a hard n fast rule for first clean extra initial charges.
I just take each house on its own merits.
If its really bad = double
Not too bad, quite grubby = 50%
Good nick = regular price
And i find most people, nearly all, except this

[Stoots]

Thas no chance of double round here

 

If you say so...

Ok so maybe that's not strictly true.
But I find window cleaning work that hard to obtain that to lower my chances even further of getting work is just not viable.

Lots of windys round here and prices are low. I get very few enquiries off website. Facebook I get a low percentage of quotes as it is because my prices are more than most. Canvassing is always a struggle again low prices. So when I do finally get a customer he last thing I want to do is not get them by charging double. If I had enquiries coming out of my ears it'd be different.

[8weekly]

Thas no chance of double round here

 

If you say so...

Ok so maybe that's not strictly true.
But I find window cleaning work that hard to obtain that to lower my chances even further of getting work is just not viable.

Lots of windys round here and prices are low. I get very few enquiries off website. Facebook I get a low percentage of quotes as it is because my prices are more than most. Canvassing is always a struggle again low prices. So when I do finally get a customer he last thing I want to do is not get them by charging double. If I had enquiries coming out of my ears it'd be different.

I find that the amount of customers I get is proportionate to the amount of effort I put into getting them. If I waited just for website enquiries I'd have about 30 regulars and about 100 one offs. In other words if you are leafleting/canvassing 10 hours every week then your view is a valid one. If not, then you don't have enough data to give an informed view.

[dazmond]

Guy phones up for a price. End terrace type. Told him £9
Talks to wife. He then says "is that frames doors etc" YES
Wife then pipes up "can we have a trial" WTF
I said yes but it will be classed as a 1 off clean and be double" WHAT" "DOUBLE"
Well think about it.
Don't bother. At least they didn't do the usual clean once and then don't pay after that

it puzzles me when a potential customer says "we ll think about it!".what is there to think about?you either want them cleaned or not!in other words they dont like your price and want to pay less.......or they dont like the look of you(very rare in my case!)

[lal]

Guy phones up for a price. End terrace type. Told him £9
Talks to wife. He then says "is that frames doors etc" YES
Wife then pipes up "can we have a trial" WTF
I said yes but it will be classed as a 1 off clean and be double" WHAT" "DOUBLE"
Well think about it.
Don't bother. At least they didn't do the usual clean once and then don't pay after that

it puzzles me when a potential customer says "we ll think about it!".what is there to think about?you either want them cleaned or not!in other words they dont like your price and want to pay less.......or they dont like the look of you(very rare in my case!)

Love your last comment dazmond   

[SeanK]

Guy phones up for a price. End terrace type. Told him £9
Talks to wife. He then says "is that frames doors etc" YES
Wife then pipes up "can we have a trial" WTF
I said yes but it will be classed as a 1 off clean and be double" WHAT" "DOUBLE"
Well think about it.
Don't bother. At least they didn't do the usual clean once and then don't pay after that

it puzzles me when a potential customer says "we ll think about it!".what is there to think about?you either want them cleaned or not!in other words they dont like your price and want to pay less.......or they dont like the look of you(very rare in my case!)

Why does it puzzle you ? I'm sure most on here will have been given a quote for something or other over the years
and not made a decision there and then.
Guys come on looking to save pennies on equipment but wonder why some might want to do the same with a yearly window
cleaning bill.

[SeanK]

Thas no chance of double round here

 

If you say so...

Ok so maybe that's not strictly true.
But I find window cleaning work that hard to obtain that to lower my chances even further of getting work is just not viable.

Lots of windys round here and prices are low. I get very few enquiries off website. Facebook I get a low percentage of quotes as it is because my prices are more than most. Canvassing is always a struggle again low prices. So when I do finally get a customer he last thing I want to do is not get them by charging double. If I had enquiries coming out of my ears it'd be different.

I find that the amount of customers I get is proportionate to the amount of effort I put into getting them. If I waited just for website enquiries I'd have about 30 regulars and about 100 one offs. In other words if you are leafleting/canvassing 10 hours every week then your view is a valid one. If not, then you don't have enough data to give an informed view.

Wrong you could canvass/leaflet 10 hours a day and you still wouldn't have an informed view, your canvassing for work not taking a survey to see what a potential customer may or may not put up with.
At the end of the day we all do the same thing which is pluck a number out of the air and hope our customers will go for it, yes
there will be things around us that will help with that decision, what others are charging, what others are offering, how good is their work, how much competition there is and so on.
Canvass an area full of wealthy types with a shortage of shiners and your going to be a lot bolder than somebody canvassing a
run of the mill estate with a shiner at every corner, similar if your in an area with plenty of competition but all doing crap work then your going to be in the position to charge more for a better job. but no matter what we do none of us will know for sure if we have pushed our customers to the limit price wise.

[richard groves]

Why should someone be prepared to agree  to a monthly/6/8 weekly whatever service before you have even cleaned their windows ?
They don't know you from Adam, you've yet to prove yourself as a good reliable and trustworthy worker.
After all you are working on their property, respect that.
To be honest if I were that customer and was expected to pay double for first clean I'd move on to the next number in the phone book.

[nathankaye]

Looking at the variety of responses to this thread is interesting. I suppose it separates the window cleaners who want to tipy toe around customers and those that want to run a business.
Yes my rounds are long standing and have been built up over the many years, but I was proud of the service and hard work that I did, regardless of what others in the area did and from day one ive been one of the more expensive shiners in all my areas. 
First impressions count, so if you look like one of the cowboys like probably the rest in the area than you wont atand out as different and first impressions count. A whole lot is in how you present yourself; appearance, attitude and confidence. Theres been many threads on this forum of how when you dont want the job you charge a silly high price and ended up being suprised when customer said yes!! Whys that I wonder. Did you say the price with confidence, I wonder??
Point is, your running a business not a charity

[slap bash]

The reason there is so many differences in pricing can be attributed to the varied understanding of business among us of the lack thereof.

[SeanK]

Looking at the variety of responses to this thread is interesting. I suppose it separates the window cleaners who want to tipy toe around customers and those that want to run a business.
Yes my rounds are long standing and have been built up over the many years, but I was proud of the service and hard work that I did, regardless of what others in the area did and from day one ive been one of the more expensive shiners in all my areas. 
First impressions count, so if you look like one of the cowboys like probably the rest in the area than you wont atand out as different and first impressions count. A whole lot is in how you present yourself; appearance, attitude and confidence. Theres been many threads on this forum of how when you dont want the job you charge a silly high price and ended up being suprised when customer said yes!! Whys that I wonder. Did you say the price with confidence, I wonder??
Point is, your running a business not a charity

Get over yourself, it shows how we all have different roads to travel depending on where we try to build our rounds nothing
more.